Alternative Methods of Education in Utah
An American Youth Policy Forum Field Trip — August 7-9, 1996
Utah has a highly urbanized population--85 percent of the state's population is in the Wasatch corridor, an area 15 miles wide and 80 miles long. Most of the state is either desert or mountainous, with only 4 percent of the land devoted to farming. The economy has moved from a primary focus on mining and processing natural resources to greater diversification encompassing high tech industries. State unemployment is at 3 percent or less.
In recent years, Salt Lake City has experienced great diversification of cultures and demographics as people have immigrated to the area. According to Salt Lake Public School Superintendent Darlene Robles, currently there is a major divergence between the cultural, racial and ethnic and backgrounds of the teaching staff and the student population in the public schools. (The city's school population is 32 percent minority. [1])
HORIZONTE Instruction and Training Center in Salt Lake City
This past year, the HORIZONTE Instruction and Training Center served 8,400 individuals (an increase of 2,000 students over the previous year) through
- adult high school (GED) and basic education classes (4,300 served)
- ESL services to limited English proficient individuals, including political refugees and new immigrants (2,700 served) and
- alternative high school programming for 1,400 students, including young parents.
The average age of students at the main campus is 18. Secondary education students (grades 9-12) who have not fared well in their home school or who need a second chance may attend morning, afternoon and evening classes at the main campus. Classes are small with the curriculum following guidelines set by the Utah State Office of Education. Vocational training opportunities are provided in Occupational Child Care, Food Services, Law Enforcement, PC Repair, Medical Technologies, Medical Services, Building Construction, Horticulture and Business Occupations, including computer use. Work experience credits are also available. Students participate in field experiences, community service projects and classes in parenting as part of their school work. Students may take college classes at Salt Lake Community College on a concurrent enrollment basis.
After referral from their home school (usually for attendance or behavioral problems) or at their parents' request, students must meet with the Student Services Council. After referral, each student participates in an orientation designed to identify needs and interests, assess educational credits and help in the selection of the best Center site for that student. As students progress through the program, a Student Education and Occupational Plan is developed (and kept on file) as a guide toward graduation and career preparation.
A Directed Studies program is also available for 11th and 12th grade students who are unable to attend school during regular school hours because of full-time employment, personal, or family. The program is individualized to meet student needs.
According to Principal James Anderson, the school and staff function as service providers to meet the needs of consumers. Anderson believes that if you build an institution along the lines of the needs of the constituent population, they will come. The high school program, once considered a second chance for the city's youth, is increasingly becoming a first option for many young people. The student body--originally majority minority, single parents and low-income--is changing to include more middle class and affluent students. The programs for refugees and new immigrants are critical to mainstreaming new Americans.
Anderson is able to structure a flexible, responsive program because he can recruit and hire teachers who buy into this philosophy of service to the students--people who want to be there. Anderson's dream is to level the playing field for his students:
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In regular schools, you have 16 students in an AP [Advance Placement] class; in basic education classes you have many more. [2] Activities at the regular high schools don't support inclusion. District school boundaries are set up so that inner city kids have the greatest distances to travel. As a result, many can't participate in after-school activities. Regular schools emphasize prerequisites designed to maximize exclusion, such as requiring members of the a capella choir to be able to read music.
The focus is on developing student leadership (there is little emphasis on organized sports); creating a community of caring by enforcing the values of respect for community, family and self; developing social skills through peer mediation; and learning through integrated, project-based curricula (e.g., an archeology/history course offered for five credits that combines five subject areas). According to Susan McFarland, lead teacher at the Garfield site, "Everything is part of the curriculum and counts."
The main site is a multi-level building that once housed the city employment services offices. Now beautifully renovated with large-scale community input and state funds from a mill levy to upgrade public schools for seismic activities, the building has an open atrium planned around the philosophy that everyone should be able to see and interact with everyone else in the building. It reflects the needs of the clientele and includes a day care center, a library replete with lending toys, games and children's books, classrooms with phones, and extensive up-to-date computer facilities.
In addition to the main facility, the Center is comprised of 19 satellite sites, evidencing a commitment to carry learning to the community. Using the community as a major resource, classes are held in a variety of public and private agencies, including excess space in public schools, and wherever the courses and programs are needed--in the YWCA, Salvation Army, Boys and Girls clubs, Kiwanis Club, Job Service, local colleges and residential sites such as the jail and rehabilitation centers. The Center has partnerships with over 50 public, private and nonprofit agencies, including the Job Corps.
Among the satellite sites visited was South City Campus serving 60 students (30 in the morning and 30 in the afternoon) in a trailer on the grounds of a public elementary school. The students in grades 9-12 are taught by a teacher in a virtual one-room school that draws on the resources of the larger community. Students complete 20 hours of community service by working as lunch room or playground aides at the elementary school and take additional courses at the community college nearby. Students work individually and in groups in all subject areas. According to the teacher, "When their knowledge of the subject gets beyond mine, they are referred to the appropriate source to continue their studies up to their maximum level of interest and capacity."
A follow-up of the 1994-95 school year found 76 percent of the main campus' graduates working and 21 percent enrolled in postsecondary education. Ninety percent of students passed the language arts competency tests for the District and the school has high JTPA results in math and language arts.
Salt Lake Community College (SLCC)--Redwood Road Campus
According to Ann Erickson, SLCC Academic Vice President, "Community colleges are premier teaching institutions committed to: vocational/technical education; developmental education; transfer education (to four-year colleges); community and continuing education; and a broad base of educational support services." At SLCC, the movement is toward more non-credit courses and a greater focus on transfer credit.
Our visit to Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) featured a tour of campus labs--computerized drafting and design, technology building instrumentation, construction trades, Ford Asset, and automotive trades; an overview of the college by Ann Erickson; a presentation on the Wasatch Front South Consortium and on the SLCC concurrent enrollment program; and a presentation by Robert Gross, Executive Director for Utah's Workforce Services.
In 1995-96, SLCC total enrollment was 45,611, including 14,300 non-credit students. The college offers an Associate of Arts (AA), Associate of Applied Science (AAS), Associate of Sciences (AS) and one-year certificates and diplomas. For the 1995-96 academic year, SLCC awarded 1,523 associate degrees and 377 certificates/diplomas; the Skills Center helped 1,606 students complete their vocational training objectives; and over 1,500 students with disabilities were served.
The college has numerous business partnerships. Union Pacific, which constructs railroad bridges, has built a state-of-the art training facility on the campus where UP employees nationwide come for training provided by college faculty. The Ford Asset Center is a partnership with Ford automobile dealers (there are several such programs throughout the country) to prepare technicians. It is an alternating cooperative education model with training in the college and on site at the dealerships leading to an AAS degree in the lucrative and high demand field of automobile technology. According to college officials, staff is working to integrate academics and technical skills preparation in response to the requests of industry and accreditation organizations.
In 1995-96, 5,284 high school students participated in concurrent enrollment (includes 2 + 2 and academy programs) taking first-year college-level courses that have no prerequisites. State legislators initiated concurrent enrollment as a way of accelerating the high school experience and telescoping the public education and training years to get young people into the job market sooner. The state also offers a new incentive--$1,000 to high school students who graduate as juniors.
Concurrent enrollment courses are as diverse as accounting, architectural technology, carpentry, chef's apprenticeship, childhood development, German, graphic design, physics and welding. The program is supported by state funds to school districts which in turn contract out courses to the college. The courses are actually taught by high school teachers who must possess the same credentials as college faculty. College staff monitor the teachers and determine the content of the courses. Students can earn up to 20 college credit hours free of cost through this program. Concurrent enrollment courses are targeted to the top 30 percent of high school students compared with Advanced Placement (AP) courses which serve approximately the top 3 percent. SLCC has concurrent enrollment contracts with five nearby school districts. The college is also part of a consortium of five school districts and 27 high schools to ensure the seamless transition from secondary to postsecondary education.
Through JTPA, the college has 30 summer program students ages 15 and 16. The students work on campus and are exposed to high-tech professions. JTPA funds also support Skills Center efforts for about 1,300 disadvantaged students who take short-term training leading to job placement. According to college officials, 50 to 75 percent of the local JTPA case load is enrolled in the community college.
A grant from the U.S. Department of Labor supports a non-traditional employment program in which women take a two-week construction course on campus, fitness training and occupational safety. The women then spend six-weeks in on-the-job training at a construction prior to entering into a formal apprenticeship program. Once in the apprenticeship, related classroom training is provided at the college tuition-free.
Utah's Consolidation Legislation for JTPA, Job Service and AFDC
"Consolidation isn't so much a good idea as a way of doing things with less resources." Field Trip Participant
In a dinner meeting, Robert Gross outlined the new state legislation (House Bill 375) consolidating Utah's Worforce and Welfare programs (i.e., 36 programs spread across five state agencies designed to help individuals gain employment) into a Department of Workforce Services. The goal of the new law is to (1) simplify service delivery and program administration; (2) streamline structures to operate more efficiently on reduced federal dollars; (3) improve services through unified case management focused on employment; and (4) create a vehicle that supports true welfare reform. This initiative is a major re-engineering of state government affecting 2,000 employees in the consolidated agencies: the Industrial Commission, Department of Employment Security (Job Service), Office of Job Training (JTPA), Office of Family Support (AFDC), Office of Child Care, and Turning Point (Carl Perkins Act, Single Parent Program).
The first step of the re-engineering effort began with the passage of the House Bill. The second step of implementation began with the appointment of Robert Gross as the Department's Acting Executive Director. Three workgroups will recommend implementation legislation for the 1997 Legislative Session with the Department assuming actual responsibility for the agencies and programs included in the consolidation on July 1, 1997.
Gross indicated consolidation will require new knowledge and skills of Department staff. For example, case workers need to be cross-trained so that they are knowledgeable about all the basic programs and can use technology to help clients access these programs. One-stops are being designed to provide greater resources and services to employers and job seekers. According to Gross, "All planning underway is as if federal block grant legislation is a reality. And if it does not become reality, the state will ask the federal government for the appropriate waivers."
Discussion session with state and local youth policy makers, practitioners and business leaders
A session with a panel of state and local youth policy makers, practitioners, and business leaders, provided an opportunity for further dialogue. Among issues addressed:
- The absence of education agency involvement in the state's consolidation legislation, specifically that of vocational education and school-to-work.
Trip participants saw this as a major gap in any legislation designed to bring coherence and efficiency to public efforts to support gainful employment. And although it was conceded that the Workforce Development Act, currently under consideration by Congress, is unlikely to pass in this session, it was felt that next year states will bring pressure on federal law makers to produce some workforce reform legislation to help with the employment and training assumptions of "welfare reform."
- The status of the state's school-to-work activities.
Utah received its federal STW implementation grant in September 1995. Presently, the focus is on kindergarten through adults, with more focused efforts at the lower levels of the education continuum. The STW office is working on getting all students involved in STW, establishing secondary and postsecondary collaborations, expanding work-based learning with much to do in this area, providing training for staff, and establishing a media campaign to get more employers involved in mentoring and other aspects. "We have a 10-year agenda with only 5 years to accomplish it," one panelist indicated.
- Levels of employer and union involvement in education and training.
Whereas we had seen evidence of strong employer involvement in training at the community college, there remained an ongoing concern about employer leadership in education and training. One local educator underscored his frustrations with the private sector exclaiming: "Employers won't say what qualifications they want for which jobs and or how many jobs they actually have or anticipate having available." The view of education from the business representative present was described as a bureaucracy that sucks up all the money before it gets to the students. His remedy: "Don't shot-gun the money, but use a rifle to zero in on the needs of the kids. The private sector wants to see results."
Clearfield and Weber Basin Job Corps Centers
The Job Corps is a very important and little known component of the nation's education and employment training system. It is the oldest, largest and most comprehensive national residential education and training program for unemployed and undereducated youth ages 16 to 24. There are 108 Centers nationwide. Federally-funded and administered by the Department of Labor, Job Corps addresses the multiple barriers to employment faced by severely disadvantaged youth. Job Corps provides a comprehensive mix of services including:
- Entry diagnostic testing of reading and math levels.
- A basic comprehensive education program, including reading, math, GED, health education, parenting, introduction to computers, and drivers education.
- Competency-based vocational education programs.
- Occupational exploration and work experience programs.
- Post program placement and support.
- Social skills training, inter-group relations and cultural awareness programs, counseling and related support services.
- A safe learning environment with zero tolerance for violence and drugs.
- Student government and leadership programs.
- Community service through volunteer and vocational skills training programs.
- Health care and substance abuse programs.
- Meals, lodging and clothing.
- Incentive-based allowances.
- Child-care support.
- Recreation and avocational activities.
Clearfield is the third largest Center in the U.S. It is locally operated by Management Training Corporation (MTC) [3] and houses 1,350 young people (approximately 1,000 men and 300 women) from every state and 25 countries (refugees from countries as diverse as Somalia, Pakistan and Bosnia). Clearfield also has a dormitory for a limited number of couples. The average age of participants is 19.
Half the entrants already have a high school diploma, some have college experience, and some don't speak English. Those with no high school diploma, GED or who score below 8.5 grade level in reading and math on the TABE test take courses in basic skills. Participants' schedules consist of alternating one week in the classroom for competency-based academic skills and one week in vocational training. As they complete academic requirements, more time is spent in the vocational component. The average teacher/student ratio in classes is 1:15. Recreation opportunities include a bowling alley, weight training facilities and a three-court gym.
In addition to pursuing GED classes offered on campus, students can receive a high school diploma at Great Basin High School, a fully accredited Utah high school. Qualified students can also attend classes at SLCC, Davis Applied Technology Center and Weber State University. Utah State University offers college-level classes at the Clearfield campus. There are 50 Clearfield corpsmen in full-time attendance at SLCC and Weber State University.
Vocational training is offered in auto mechanics, advanced automotive and auto body, building and apartment maintenance, business clerical, carpentry, advanced computer service technician, culinary arts, floor covering, landscaping/horticulture, machinist, painting, plastering, plumbing, printing, retail sales, security guard, and welding. Clearfield contracts with local unions to provide vocational training, and the unions help with job placement for young people in the pre-apprenticeship programs. Students who complete all areas of trade training and master required competencies receive the appropriate occupational certifications.
Students in the carpentry program work off-site in construction jobs for non-profit groups. Instructors in the security training program are retired police officers and students in Level C (armed) training use the local sheriff's firing range for training. The Automotive Service Training Program (in auto manufacturing, dealership certification areas, parts clerking, and heavy equipment/diesel) is certified by the United Automobile Workers.
During the final stages of vocational training, students participate in job search training, and campus placement staff work with them to locate employment or continued educational opportunities. Students are given the opportunity to receive six weeks of actual work experience with local employers. Students work up to five hours per day/five days per week. This program is free of charge to participating employers. Employers who hire eligible students under the Job Tax Credit Program may receive up to $6,000 in federal tax credits and up to $3,000 in state tax credits per eligible employee.
At the time of our visit, Clearfield was in the process of launching a pilot program (to begin September 1, 1996) with HORIZONTE for 25 students to participate in Job Corps and become eligible for Corps benefits such as a stipend, clothes, health care, etc.
Young people are allowed to stay in the Job Corps for up to two years and can complete as many jobs skill areas as they desire during that time. Graduation exercises are held monthly.
The sprawling campus is clean and well-manicured; many of the facility improvements are done by students. Dormitories--some are converted warehouses and windowless--are also immaculate (rigorous standards of tidiness are enforced) and student rooms, housing up to six young people, reflect the inhabitants' personality and individuality. We were told that because the government does not own the Clearfield property, it has been reluctant to build and make major improvements to the facility.
The smaller Weber Basin Center is operated by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, as a Conservation Corps. It is located 30 miles north of Salt Lake City at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains. The small, well-maintained collegiate campus has a capacity for 224 young people, equal numbers of males and females. Students live in attractive dormitories which they maintain--each housing approximately 56 youth.
Although on smaller scale, it offers the same benefits and services (including the high school diploma option, the college program in cooperation with Utah State University, counseling, health care, etc.) available at the Clearfield facility. Vocational training courses in (a) the union trades are brick masonry, carpentry and painting; and in (b) the non-union trades are in clerical, clerical 2, culinary arts, maintenance, welding and health occupations. Weber Basin has its own gymnasium and recreation room, tennis courts and private fishing pond.
According to the Center's literature:
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Campus activities have been designed for the express purpose of promoting the development and improvement of the students' social and personal skills. Often a student's negative self-concept is a major barrier to being successful in a job and in life. The residential program, along with the vocational and educational programs, help to improve the individual's awareness of his/her potential as a worker and as a human being.
The stabilizing and self-capacity building aspects of the program are reflected in Weber Basin participant, Andy Truijillo's Job Corps National Essay.
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. . . My whole life came to a stop when the only person who believed in me, my grandmother, died. After she left me, I had nothing more to live for. I went deeper into the gangs and led the gangster life to the fullest. I left home at the age of 16 and have never gone back. I lived where I could and dropped out of school. My life was going nowhere.
One day, I called my little brother and we were casually talking about what I was doing with my life when he brought up Job Corps. He told me that Job Corps was an okay place where you could get a diploma, learn a trade, and meet a lot of different people. He told me it was free and they would even pay me to go there. In my mind, there was no way that could be true. The Screener proved me wrong and I was accepted two months later.
My first impression of the small center was that there was too much snow, and it was too cold. . . . The trade I took was welding, and I was finally doing well for once. I could see my life changing. I was offered a job in the recreation center and accepted. Shortly afterward, I became the Rec. President. With all of my friends, I had no problems fitting in.
One of the changes I made was that I didn't have to be mean or rude to people anymore. Most of the people I was around were nice and helpful; I didn't have to get in trouble to be recognized. Then I started noticing that I was doing better in school, and it was actually fun. About my third month in education, I did what I thought I never could: I received my GED! But I'm not going to stop there; I plan to get my diploma and become the first person in my family to attend college.
. . . I know now that whatever I put my mind to do, I can accomplish. My dreams are becoming my realities.
Conclusions
The trip provided a panoramic view of several components of the U.S. education system seldom visible even to the well informed.
- A model of an alternative school for students who have not been successful in mainstream high schools or students with special needs that cannot be addressed by these institutions.
- A community college with multi-purpose roles in preparing young people and adults for technical careers and four year institutions, remediating secondary school deficits through developmental education, providing a critical transition and acceleration for high school students to postsecondary studies through concurrent enrollment, and helping employers upgrade incumbent employee skills.
- The Job Corps system which provides a structured, second chance opportunity for education and training for youth at a time when they voluntarily decide they are ready to make commitments to their life development and in an environment external to community and family structures within which they have not found success.
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[This] was a unique experience for me that will provide long-lasting benefits. First, visiting the two Utah Job Corp Centers was an important learning experience. I had never been to a Job Corp Center before. Although the Job Corp program is part of the Workforce and Career Development legislation recently considered by Congress (and therein tied to our adult and vocational education programs), I did not have a very clear picture of what these programs do. Probably the most striking thing about the Centers was the quality of the occupational education available to Job Corp members. Some of the occupational programs rivaled that available at community colleges. I was also impressed to see that the Center administrators live the philosophy that the Department of Education promotes: all students can achieve to high standards.
The HORIZONTE alternative program is another example of what a school can accomplish when it adheres to the philosophy that all students can learn to high standards. HORIZONTE uses many of the practices my office investigated in the recent New American High School conference, including adult mentoring, learning in context, and learning by doing. It was great to see these principles come together in practice and serving well students with diverse needs.
The trip also offered an opportunity to discuss with state and local policy makers, practitioners and employers their strategies for use of federal program funds and ways that they are rationalizing and making these funds augment state and local priorities.
Contact Information
James Andersen
Principal
HORIZONTE Instruction and Training Center
1234 S. Main Street
Salt Lake City, UT 84101-3117
Phone: 801-578-8131
Fax: 801-578-8577
(also: Joanne Milner, Programs and Facilities Manager, Phone: 801-578-8574)
John Crosby
Director
Clearfield Job Corps Campus
P.O. Box 1388
15 East Antelope Drive (1700 South)
Clearfield, UT 84016
Phone: 801-774-4201
Fax: 801-774-4135
Greg Evans
Director
Weber Basin Job Corps Center
7400 S. Cordia Dr., Ogden, UT 84405
Phone: 801-479-9806
Fax: 801-476-5985
Bob Gross
Executive Director
Department of Workforce Services
140 E. Third South St.
Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Phone: 801-531-3780
Fax: 801-359-3928
Rand Johnson
Assistant to the President/Legislative Liaison
Salt Lake Community College
4600 South Redwood Road
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0808
Phone: 801-957-4228
Fax: 801-957-4440
Darlene Robles
Superintendent
Salt Lake City Public Schools
440 East 100 South St.
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
Phone: 801-578-8599
Fax: 801/578-8248
[1] State Superintendent Scott Bean says that except for Salt Lake City and Ogden, there is no staff:student demographic divergence in the state.
[2] According to Scott Bean, the statewide class size averages 24, less in Salt Lake City.
[3] MTC runs 24 Centers in 19 states enrolling 11,000 Job Corps participants.